Full Court rules next Wednesday on contempt charge Guyana Chronicle April 19, 2000 THE Full Court yesterday reserved, until next week Wednesday, a ruling on whether it has jurisdiction for a trial of the contempt charge laid against Guyana Court of Appeal judges. The accusation was laid by condemned murderers Abdool Saleem Yasseen and Noel Thomas who want to prevent the highest tribunal in the land from sitting on appeal launched against a High Court decision that favoured them. The Attorney General and the Director of Prisons were the appellants in that case but Yasseen and Thomas alleged bias on behalf of Chancellor Cecil Kennard and other Justices of Appeal Lennox Perry and Prem Persaud, causing the Full Court to issue the controversial order barring them from hearing the matter and triggering the so-called battle of the Courts. The Justices of Appeal are seeking to have that restraint lifted but the prosecution was pursued yesterday, before Justices Desmond Burch-Smith (presiding) and Carl Singh, by attorney-at-law Mr Stephen Fraser, representing Yasseen and Thomas. Fraser, who had previously cited it, yesterday produced the authority he cited in support of his arguments and relied on it. Senior Counsel Ashton Chase, representing the accused judges, insisted that they enjoy judicial immunity and cannot be charged with contempt. He said their protection is assured under the Common Law of England and the Common Law of Guyana. Reacting to Fraser's application for Yassen and Thomas to testify on challenged aspects of their affidavits, Chase submitted that, under the Common law of Guyana, contempt of Court is determined on the basis of affidavit evidence. "...if the Full Court has no jurisdiction to hear the motion for contempt, I do not see how the question of evidence arises," Chase declared.